Federal court jurors in Madison have found Joseph Jakubowksi guilty on two charges, in the April theft of firearms and ammunition from a Janesville area gun store. The 33-year old managed to elude law enforcement for 10 days before being taken into custody in Vernon County.

FBI agent Jeff Anderson spoke with reporters outside the courthouse, and credited the “superb cooperation” that allowed the search for Jakubowski to come to a peaceful conclusion. “”I’ve been involved in this business for in excess of 35 years, and I’ve never seen better cooperation amongst law enforcement.”

Jakubowski — who had pleaded not guilty — said in court on Monday that he stole 18 guns, ammunition and two silencers from Armageddon Supplies near Janesville.

“Anyone that possesses fully automatic weapons, handguns and ammunition . . . I think the threat that they pose to the community is obvious,” Anderson said.

The jury of 10 men and two women deliberated for less than two hours before finding Joseph Jakubowski guilty. Investigators have said that 12 of the guns stolen by Jakubowski remain unaccounted for.

Governor Scott Walker has announced the appointment of a former Republican state legislator to serve as secretary of the Department of Natural Resources. Dan Meyer succeeds Cathy Stepp, who last month accepted an appointment with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Meyer’s appointment is effective today.

“Dan Meyer will be an outstanding DNR secretary,” Governor Walker said. “He understands the balance between protecting our natural resources and supporting economic prosperity in our state. As a highly respected former legislator and mayor who cares deeply about conservation, Dan will serve in the best interests of Wisconsin.”

A former DNR Secretary is generally pleased with Walker’s selection of Meyer. “He clearly is coming into this job with far more experience and knowledge than his predecessor,” said Wisconsin Wildlife Federation executive director George Meyer, a frequent critic of agency policies under Stepp’s leadership.

Meyer represented the 34th District in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 2001 to 2013. He is an avid outdoorsman and was a strong advocate for the environment, specifically related to protecting Wisconsin’s lakes in the efforts against invasive species, according to a press release from the governor’s office. Meyer was mayor of Eagle River from 1997 – 2001.

A new University of Wisconsin Madison program is helping first generation college students.

Almost 140 transfers from UW two-year campuses have begun fall classes at the UW-Madison in the Badger Promise program. Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank says the Badger Promise covers tuition and fees for first generation students.

UW Colleges Chancellor Kathy Sandeen says the “promise” means a lot. “We’re in the business of creating University of Wisconsin graduates, and our particular student segment will really benefit from the financial support.”

Sandeen also says that Badger Promise can also help the state’s worker shortage. “We know that our students are very practical, and they’re selecting majors that align with the top job demands in the state. And we know that they come to us because they want those jobs and professions.”

That state budget Governor Scott Walker will sign Thursday includes a surprise provision that could make it much more difficult for local government units to acquire land needed for trails and sidewalks. They’ve long had power to “condemn” or acquire through eminent domain property needed for public purposes.

“We’ve heard from municipalities all over the state who are concerned about,” said Dave Cieslewicz, executive director of the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation. “Other municipalities will say that they’ve never used it for this purpose. But it’s very existence makes projects possible.”

Language slipped into the 2017-2019 state budget denies municipalities the ability to use condemnation. And as Cieslewicz noted, its origins are unknown. “This has no public hearing, no one had an opportuinity to ask questions, we don’t even know where it came from.”

Cieslewicz said the change will inevitably mean some projects will be stopped or delayed, and will lead to litigation.

You should ignore the Jayden K Smith Facebook hoax. Well-meaning users have warning their friends not to accept a request from Jayden K Smith, but the message itself is the hoax. If you recieved it, “you’re not on a list of potential, gullible people, because your friend was gullible enough to share this,” said Madison College Marketing Professor Steve Noll.

Noll says you might want to check your Facebook password and security settings. And if that name sounds familiar, “this is a known scam, and it’s been around for years,” he said. “Even using the name ‘Jayden K. Smith’ is not a new name. This name pops up periodically.”

Noll says Facebook posts asking you to copy and paste to your staus in support a cause, like cancer or suicide prevention, are also scams fishing for gullible users.

Phone scams are the next risk in the wake of last week’s Equifax data breach, and state consumer protection officials want people to be aware of that prospect. An event of this scale is sure to bring scammers out of the woodwork, and one of the potential risks at this point is con artists preying on consumers through misinformation, according to Frank Frassetto, Administrator at the Division of Trade and Consumer Protection at DATCP.

Frassetto says neither Equifax nor any bank will call you and request your Social Security number or other sensitive information. So if you receive an unsolicited call, hang up and don’t engage. “Look at information that we have on our website regarding the data breach and what to do,” Frassetto says. “It’s a fact sheet that gives you a ton of information on steps that you can take.”

Equifax revealed last week that a security breach may have compromised the privacy of as many as 143 million consumers in the U.S.

Investigators say last week’s house explosion in Madison was deliberately done to cover up a homicide.

The allegations against the 59-year-old homeowner were made during a Sunday press conference. “Steven Pirus killed his wife, and then attempted to cover it up,” said police chief Mike Koval.

Pirus is accused of blowing up the home he shared with 50-year-old Lee Anne Pirus.

Koval said Lee Anne Pirus had been dead “for weeks if not months,” prior to last Wednesday’s explosion. Fire chief Steven Davis said investigators believe the blast was triggered by natural gas after Pirus tampered with the line into the home.

Pirus faces felony charges of first degree intentional homicide, reckless endangerment and arson. Koval said it’s too early to speculate on a motive for the murder.

Wisconsin’s U.S. Senators are supporting opposing health care bills in Washington. A group of Republican senators – including Ron Johnson of Wisconsin – are making a late push to repeal and replace Obamacare this month. The bill, backed by Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, would combine funding for Medicaid and Obamacare’s subsidies into a block grant to the states.

And Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin is supporting Senator Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill. That measure is unlikely to advance in the GOP controlled Senate.

“Wisconsin’s premiums have by and large doubled, because of the faulty architecture of Obamacare,” Johnson said during a Wednesday press conference debuting the legislation. “In many cases, premiums have tripled.”

The GOP press conference came before a scheduled news conference by Sanders and Democrats to unveil a new single-payer bill that would cover all Americans under a more comprehensive version of Medicare. Baldwin, in an opinion piece for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, said she supports the Medicare-for-all legislation from the Vermont independent.

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel has announced creation of a new division of the Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) dedicated to human trafficking.

The Human Trafficking Bureau will promote public safety through proactive enforcement, specialized training, and community outreach. The bureau has already begun coordinating investigative efforts throughout the state.

The bureau will be staffed by one special agent in charge and six special DCI agents,

“Human trafficking is an insidious crime that affects victims in small and large communities, rural and urban,” said Schimel. “The DOJ Human Trafficking Bureau will be a resource to communities all across the state in the fight to stop human trafficking and to protect the victims who have been coerced and extorted into sex and labor work.”

Local and regional task forces to fight human trafficking already exist in some parts of Wisconsin, and the bureau will work with these task forces to support victims and to provide specialized training. The bureau was created through a reorganization of DCI and will not increase DCI’s budget.

Governor Scott Walker weighed in on Foxconn critics, during a media call updating his trade mission to Japan and South Korea.

“I’ve heard some of the critics of this plan talk about how the state needed to do more to focus on good paying, family supporting jobs. Well right here we’ve got a measure that allows us to directly create 13,000 good paying, family supporting jobs, and they oppose it,” Walker said.

Senator Robert Wirch of Kenosha was the only Democrat to vote for the Foxconn measure on Tuesday, and Senator Rob Cowles, a Green Bay Republican, voted no in what was otherwise a party line vote.

“They can say just about anything they want, but it appears as the though the main reason the leading proponents of this are opposed is that it’s something that we proposed,” Walker said.